1.
Facade
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A façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. It is a loan word from the French façade, which means frontage or face. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, from the engineering perspective of a building, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency. For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws restrict or even forbid their alteration. The word comes from the French foreign loan word façade, which in turn comes from the Italian facciata, from faccia meaning face, the earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656. It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade, in modern highrise building, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls, the façade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general, the systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminium or stainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminium,660 °C, is reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Firestops for such building joints can be qualified, too, putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. Some building codes also limit the percentage of area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors, on a film set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façades, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject to building codes. In film sets, they are held up with supports from behind. Within theme parks, they are usually decoration for the interior ride/attraction/restaurant, by Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Klein, Marcel Bilow and Thomas Auer. ISBN 978-3-7643-7961-2 ISBN 978-3-7643-7962-9 Giving buildings an illusion of grandeur Poole, the article outlines the development of the façade in ecclesiastical architecture from the early Christian period to the Renaissance
2.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
3.
Rothschild family
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During the 19th century, the Rothschild family possessed the largest private fortune in the world, as well as the largest private fortune in modern world history. The Rothschild family has frequently been the subject of conspiracy theories, the first member of the family who was known to use the name Rothschild was Izaak Elchanan Rothschild, born in 1577. The name is derived from the German zum rothen Schild, meaning with the red sign, the familys ascent to international prominence began in 1744, with the birth of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was the son of Amschel Moses Rothschild, a money changer who had traded with the Prince of Hesse, the family motto appears below the shield, Concordia, Integritas, Industria. Paul Johnson writes he Rothschilds are elusive, there is no book about them that is both revealing and accurate. Libraries of nonsense have been written about them, a woman who planned to write a book entitled Lies about the Rothschilds abandoned it, saying, ‘It was relatively easy to spot the lies, but it proved impossible to find out the truth. Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the world as stocks, bonds, changes made by the Rothschilds allowed them to insulate their property from local violence, Henceforth their real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of greedy monarchs. Another essential part of Mayer Rothschilds strategy for success was to control of their banks in family hands. By this means, Jewish financiers obtained a share of international finance during the middle. The head of the group was the Rothschild family. It also states, Of more recent years, non-Jewish financiers have learned the same method, and, on the whole. Mayer Rothschild successfully kept the fortune in the family with carefully arranged marriages, by the late 19th century, however, almost all Rothschilds had started to marry outside the family, usually into the aristocracy or other financial dynasties. The surname Rothschild is rare in Germany, the German surname Rothschild is not related to the Protestant surname Rothchilds from the United Kingdom. Another line, of the British branch of the family, was elevated by Queen Victoria, research conducted by GreatGameIndia Magazine has revealed that the Rothschild family was one of the controller families of the East India Company. The Rothschilds already possessed a significant fortune before the start of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1815 alone, the Rothschilds provided £9.8 million in subsidy loans to Britains continental allies. The brothers helped coordinate Rothschild activities across the continent, and the family developed a network of agents, in one instance, the family network enabled Nathan to receive in London the news of Wellingtons victory at the Battle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the governments official messengers. It was then repeated in popular accounts, such as that of Morton. The basis for the Rothschilds most famously profitable move was made after the news of British victory had made public
4.
Ascott House
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Ascott House, sometimes referred to as simply Ascott, is a Grade II* listed building in the hamlet of Ascott near Wing in Buckinghamshire, England. It is set in a 3, 200-acre estate, Ascott House was originally a farm house, built in the reign of James I and known as Ascott Hall. In 1873 it was acquired by Baron Mayer de Rothschild, the Rothschild family had begun to acquire vast tracts of land in Buckinghamshire earlier in the century, on which they built a series of large mansions from 1852 onwards. Baron Mayer gave the house at Ascott to his nephew Leopold de Rothschild, who transformed it over the following decades into the substantial, the present half-timbered house is largely the result of that commission. Devey attempted to design a house that rambled as though it had grown, the project became a lifetime work for Devey as the house was continually expanded during the remainder of the 19th century. The rambling and climbing shrubs he had planted as part of the design of the facades that Mary Gladstone described in her memoirs are no longer there. The style of architecture, which could be described as English cottage meets Tudor Cheshire Manor house is informal, the architecture at Ascott was not intended to faithfully reproduce that of an earlier era. Devey was a forerunner of the Arts and Crafts movement and had developed a style of his own. Huge bay windows provide views over the Chiltern Hills, while, multiple gables of varying heights, with roof lines sweeping to different levels resemble those later designed by the more notable Edwin Lutyens. On the death of Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild in 1937 the house was inherited by her son Anthony Gustav de Rothschild. The entrance hall is notable for its paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, and Joshua Reynolds. The works of art continue through the room, with its portrait of a prelate attributed to Lorenzo Lotto. The Drawing room today displays a collection of blue Chinese ceramics with examples from the Han dynasty circa 206 BC and this room contains the painting of the Madonna and Child with St. John by Andrea del Sarto of 1520. In 1936 the Billiards Room was transformed into a library to house the many volumes amassed by Anthony de Rothschild. One of the most comfortable rooms in the house, its book lined walls are interrupted by Gainsboroughs full length portrait of the Duchess of Richmond. Standing on a table is Tiepolos The Assumption of the Virgin. The room also contains furniture by Thomas Chippendale and ancient Chinese ceramics, the extensive manicured gardens were laid out on the advice of the garden designer Sir Harry Veitch circa 1902 by Leopold de Rothschild as a wedding present to his wife. A sundial made entirely of topiary complete with Latin numerals proclaims in clipped yew, Light and shade by turn, but love always
5.
Chiltern Hills
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The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as the Chilterns, a large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965. The Chilterns cover an area of 833 km2, the boundary of the hills is clearly defined on the north west side by the scarp slope. The dip slope is by definition more gradual, and merges with the landscape to the south east, the Thames is a clear end point to the south west, whereas north east of Luton the hills decline slowly in prominence. The chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills overlooks the Vale of Aylesbury, the beds of the Chalk Group were deposited over the buried northwestern margin of the Anglo-Brabant Massif during the Upper Cretaceous. During this time, sources for siliciclastic sediment had been eliminated due to the high sea level. The Chalk Group, like the underlying Gault Clay and Upper Greensand, is diachronous and this phase of deformation tilted the chalk strata to the southeast in the area of the Chiltern Hills. The gently dipping beds of rock were eroded, forming an escarpment, the chalk strata are frequently interspersed with layers of flint nodules which apparently replaced chalk and infilled pore spaces early in the diagenetic history. Flint has been mined for millennia from the Chiltern Hills and they were first extracted for fabrication into flint axes in the Neolithic period, then for knapping into flintlocks. Nodules are to be everywhere in the older houses as a construction material for walls. The highest point is at 267 m above sea level at Haddington Hill near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, the nearby Ivinghoe Beacon is a more prominent hill, although its altitude is only 249 m. To the east of Ivinghoe Beacon is Dunstable Downs, a section of the Chiltern scarp. Near Wendover is Coombe Hill,260 m above sea level, the more gently sloping country – the dip slope – to the southeast of the Chiltern scarp is also generally referred to as part of the Chilterns, it contains much beech woodland and many villages. Enclosed fields account for almost 66% of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty area, the next most important, and archetypal, landscape form is woodland, covering 21% of the Chilterns, which is thus one of the most heavily wooded areas in England. Other rivers arising near the Chilterns include the Mimram, Ver, Gade, Bulbourne, Chess, Misbourne and these are classified as chalk streams, although the Lea is degraded by water from road drains and sewage treatment works. The River Thames flows through a gap between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns, portions of the northern and north-eastern Chilterns around Leighton Buzzard and Hitchin are drained by the Ouzel, Flit and Hiz, all of which ultimately lead to the River Great Ouse. A number of routes pass through the Chilterns in natural or man-made corridors. There are also over 2,000 km of footpaths in the Chilterns, including long-distance trackways such as the Icknield Way
6.
New Forest
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The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily populated south east of England. It covers southwest Hampshire and extends into southeast Wiltshire and towards east Dorset, the name also refers to the New Forest National Park which has similar boundaries. There are many dotted around the area, and several small towns in the Forest. There are around 250 round barrows within its boundaries, and scattered boiling mounds, the Jutes were one of the early Anglo-Saxon tribal groups who colonised this area of southern Hampshire. The word ytene is also found locally as a synonym for giant, following the Norman Conquest, the New Forest was proclaimed a royal forest, in about 1079, by William the Conqueror. It was used for royal hunts, mainly of deer and it was created at the expense of more than 20 small hamlets and isolated farmsteads, hence it was then new as a single compact area. Two of Williams sons died in the forest, Prince Richard in 1081 and this Forest at present affordeth great variety of Game, where his Majesty oft-times withdraws himself for his divertisement. The reputed spot of Rufuss death is marked with a known as the Rufus Stone. Tirrell him seing not, Unwares him flew with dint of arrow shot, the common rights were confirmed by statute in 1698. The New Forest became a source of timber for the Royal Navy, in the Great Storm of 1703, about 4000 oak trees were lost. It also reconstituted the Court of Verderers as representatives of the Commoners, as of 2005, roughly 90% of the New Forest is still owned by the Crown. The Crown lands have been managed by the Forestry Commission since 1923, felling of broadleaved trees, and their replacement by conifers, began during the First World War to meet the wartime demand for wood. Further encroachments were made during the Second World War and this process is today being reversed in places, with some plantations being returned to heathland or broadleaved woodland. During the Second World War, an area of the forest, further New Forest Acts followed in 1949,1964 and 1970. The New Forest became a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1971, the New Forest was proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 1999, and it became a National Park in 2005. Forest laws were enacted to preserve the New Forest as a location for royal deer hunting, there were also licences granted to gather bracken after Michaelmas Day as litter for animals. Along with grazing, pannage is still an important part of the Forests ecology, pigs can eat acorns without a problem, but for ponies and cattle large quantities of acorns can be poisonous. Pannage always lasts 60 days, but the date varies according to the weather –
7.
Halton, Buckinghamshire
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Halton is a small village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England and is located about 2 miles north of Wendover &5 miles southeast of Aylesbury. Halton lies just outside the Metropolitan Green Belt so it has not been protected from housing development. At its southern end it is contiguous with Wendover, but it retains a separate, older village centre anchored by St Michael & All Angels Church, there is a separate, modern Catholic Church. The Parish also includes RAF Halton, a Royal Air Force training station with an airfield used for glider training. Most modern housing in the village was built for RAF personnel, a small shop mainly serves the RAF community. The base had a military hospital employing hundreds of people. The buildings remained until 2007/8 when they were demolished for the Princess Mary Gate housing scheme on land between Halton and Wendover. In the Chiltern Hills above Halton is Halton House, a house in the style of a French chateau. It was originally built for Alfred de Rothschild in 1880, the RAF demolished its domed winter garden to build an accommodation block. Halton Community Combined School is a primary school, which takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has 91 pupils and was recently judged excellent by OFSTED, the Halton Tennis Centre has a small number of future athletes combining competitive tennis training with home schooling. The Centre was formerly run by the RAF, who train there. The nearest railway station is Wendover which is on the Chiltern Railways line between Aylesbury and London Marylebone, journey times to London are under an hour. The bus route 50 served by Arriva runs from and to the Main Point at RAF Halton, the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal flows through Halton on its course from Wendover to join the Grand Union beside Marsworth lock near Tring. Halton gave its name to the Handley Page Halton, a version of the Halifax bomber. Media related to Halton, Buckinghamshire at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Mentmore Towers
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Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as Mentmore, is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. The mansion has been described as one of the greatest houses of the Victorian era, Mentmore was the first of what were to become virtual Rothschild enclaves in the Vale of Aylesbury. Baron Mayer de Rothschild began purchasing land in the area in 1846, later, other members of the family built houses at Tring in Hertfordshire, Ascott, Aston Clinton, Waddesdon and Halton. Much of the parkland was sold in 1944, but Mentmore remained with family until 1977, in 1999, it was sold to investor Simon Halabi, who planned to build additional hotel and conference facilities. Mentmore Towers is a Grade I listed building, with its park, baron Rothschild hired Sir George Paxton, who had previously designed the much-admired Crystal Palace, to design Mentmore. The builder was the London firm George Myers, frequently employed by members of the Rothschild family, the design is closely based on that of Robert Smythsons Wollaton Hall. Baron Mayer de Rothschild and his wife did not live long after the Towers completion, after the Baronesss death it was inherited by her daughter Hannah, later Countess of Rosebery. Following her death from Brights Disease in 1890 at age 39, in the late 1920s, the fifth earl gave the estate to his son Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, who in 1929 on the death of his father, became the sixth Earl. Both earls bred numerous winners of horse races at the two stud farms on the estate, including five Epsom Derby winners. These were Ladas, Sir Visto, and Cicero from the Crafton Stud, plus Ocean Swell, the second wife of the sixth Earl, Eva Primose, Countess of Rosebery, was interested in the arts and was acquainted with Kenneth Clark and other national art museum directors. As a result of Lady Roseberys friendships, Mentmore was chosen by the British government to store part of the British national art collections during the Second World War. The collections of the National Portrait Gallery were subsequently stored at Mentmore for the duration of the war, along with pieces from the Royal Collection, including the Gold State Coach. Further works transferred to Mentmore included the portraits from Speakers House in the Palace of Westminster, the collection was stored in the battery room subsequently nicknamed the refuge, part of the gas house, a group of outbuildings where gas and electric light were supplied for the estate. Four men guarded the refuge at night, and two during the day, the government refused to spend such large sums from the fund, and the sale fell through. The government was offered the house and contents for UK £2 million, after three more years of fruitless discussion, the executors of the estate sold the contents by public auction, and the large collection lost. The estate made over £6,000,000, but a fraction of its estimated worth today. Among the paintings sold were works by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Boucher, Drouais, Moroni and other known artists. Also represented were the finest German and Russian silver- and goldsmiths and this Rothschild/Mentmore collection is said to have been one of the finest ever to be assembled in private hands, other than the collections of the Russian and British royal families
9.
Folkestone
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Folkestone /ˈfoʊkstən/ is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, there has been a settlement in this location since the Mesolithic era. A nunnery was founded by Eanswith, daughter of Æthelberht of Kent in the 7th century, the harbours use has diminished since the opening of the nearby Channel Tunnel and stopping of local ferry services, but still remains in active use. The area of Folkestone has been occupied since at least the Mesolithic era, in 2010, worked flints were discovered below the remains of the Folkestone Roman Villa. The East Cliff area was excavated in 1924 and most recently from 2010 -2011, on the East Cliff, an extensive Iron Age oppidum existed, which produced quern-stones on an almost industrial scale. These querns, or stones used for grinding cereals into flour, were traded for continental exports such as pottery, a modest Roman style villa was constructed over the Iron Age settlement sometime during the first century AD, followed by a more luxurious one in about 200 AD. The villa was abandoned sometime during the third or fourth century for unknown reasons, in 597 AD, monks led by St Augustine arrived at Ebbsfleet on the Isle of Thanet, on a mission from Pope Gregory to re-Christianise Britain. He was greeted by the Anglo Saxon pagan King of Kent, Ethelbert and his Christian Queen, Augustine was granted land in Canterbury where he built his church and outside the walls founded the monastery of St Peter & St Paul - now known as St Augustines. Ethelbert was succeeded as Anglo-Saxon king of Kent by his son Eadbald, in 630 AD, Eanswythe founded a nunnery on the site of her fathers castle near Folkestone by the present parish Church of St Mary & St Eanswythe. Eanswythe died c 640 AD and was made a saint. Her remains were moved into the chancel of the current church in the 12th century and they became the focus of prayer and pilgrimage such that Eanswythe was quickly adopted as the towns patron. The community grew and developed into a monastery until it was dissolved by Henry VIII and they were rediscovered in June 1885 when workmen, carrying out alterations to the high altar, found a battered lead casket immured in a niche in the north wall of the chancel. Examination by archaeologists at the time and again in 1981 confirmed that the casket was of Anglo-Saxon origin and these relics are still housed in the church close to where they were discovered in the north wall of the chancel flanked by a pair of small brass candlesticks. St Eanswythe is celebrated on 12 September each year - the date on which her relics were moved to the present chancel and she also appears on the towns seal with William Harvey, the Folkestone-born, 17th-century physician who discovered the circulation of the blood. A Norman knight held a Barony of Folkestone, which led to its entry as a part of the Cinque Ports in the thirteenth century, at the start of the Tudor period it had become a town in its own right. Wars with France meant that defences had to be built here, at the beginning of the 1800s a harbour was developed, but it was the coming of the railways in 1843 that would have the bigger impact. Until the 19th century Folkestone remained a fishing community with a seafront that was continually battered by storms
10.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
11.
Tring
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Tring /trɪŋ/ is a small market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. As of 2013 Tring has a population of 11,730, settlements in Tring date back to Prehistoric times and it was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Tring received its town charter in 1315. Tring is now largely a commuter town within the London commuter belt, the name Tring is believed to derive from the Anglo-Saxons Tredunga or Trehangr. Tre, meaning tree and with the suffix ing implying a slope where trees grow, there is evidence of Prehistoric settlement with Iron Age barrows, and defensive embankments adjacent to the Ridgeway Path and also later with Saxon burials. The town straddles the Roman road called Akeman Street, which runs through it as the High Street, Tring was the dominant settlement in the area, being the primary settlement in the Hundred of Tring during the Domesday Book. Tring had a large population and paid a large amount of tax relative to most settlements listed in the Domesday book. The Manor of Treunga is described in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it was assigned to Count Eustace II of Boulogne by William the Conqueror. In 1315 the town was granted a charter by Edward II. This charter gave Faversham Abbey the right to hold markets on Tuesdays, and hold a ten-day fair starting on the 29th of June. It also prevented the creation of any rival markets within a days travel of the town, the tower of the Church of St Peter and St Paul was built somewhere in between 1360 and 1400. The mansion of Tring Park was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was built in 1682 for the owner Henry Guy, John Washington, the son of the Reverend Lawrence Washington and Amphyllis Twigden was born and brought up in Tring. Industries which benefitted included flour milling, brewing, silk weaving, lace-making, in 1836 Thomas Butcher, a wholesale seed and corn merchant and his son also Thomas, established a private bank Thomas Butcher & Son in Tring High Street. The business was run by Thomass grandsons, Frederick and George and was also known locally as Tring Old Bank. By 1900 it had branches in Aylesbury, Chesham and Berkhamsted, from this time it became the subject of successive bank consolidations which concluded in the formation of the last to be represented in the town, the National Westminster Bank. In the late 19th century the estate became the home of the Rothschild family, nathan Mayer Rothschilds son Lionel Walter Rothschild built a private zoological museum in Tring. This housed perhaps the largest collection of stuffed animals worldwide, as the Natural History Museum at Tring, it has been part of the Natural History Museum since 1937. In April 2007 the museum changed its name to the Natural History Museum at Tring in order to make people aware of the museums link to Londons Natural History Museum
12.
Hertfordshire
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Hertfordshire is a county in southern England, bordered by Bedfordshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Buckinghamshire to the west and Greater London to the south. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region, in 2013, the county had a population of 1,140,700 living in an area of 634 square miles. Four towns have between 50,000 and 100,000 residents, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans. Hertford, once the market town for the medieval agricultural county derives its name from a hart. Elevations are high for the region in the north and west and these reach over 240m in the western projection around Tring which is in the Chilterns. The countys borders are approximately the watersheds of the Colne and Lea, hertfordshires undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much is protected by green belt. The countys landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in the new town of Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, Leavesden filmed much of the UK-based $7.7 Bn box office Harry Potter film series and has the countrys studio tour. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill and his martyrs cross of a yellow saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is well-served with motorways and railways, providing access to London. The largest sector of the economy of the county is in services, Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing, the name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems, there is evidence of humans living in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period. It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age and this was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age. 293 the first recorded British martyrdom is believed to have taken place. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyrs cross of a saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire, with the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century, the now unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 6th century the majority of the county was part of the East Saxon kingdom
